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Dawson Crenshaw
Dawson Masterson Crenshaw, Executor of the United Legions of Defileron (November 29, 2335-January 1, 2377) was a fictional character in the Star Trek universe. Unlike most of Joshua Underwood's characters, he did not create this one; it was created for him by the former room host of the now-defunct Fragile Peace, known by his primary character, Eshi se Ranor. Crenshaw was originally created as the defense attorney for President Victor Manchester during his impeachment proceedings in December 2005/2375. He was portrayed by Robert Redford. Crenshaw was the last of the Three Warlords, and the most hated of the two still alive after the death of Artimus Devaneaux. Origins Born in the historic town of Deadwood, South Dakota, Crenshaw was born to a family with known connections to the radical bigot group known as the Keep Earth Human League, which had committed acts of terrorism against alien embassies, particularly that of Vulcan, since the formation of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. His father believed that the first crusade against aliens should start within Starfleet - originally founded in 2161 with mostly humans as officers. Not seeing the contributions that aliens had made to Starfleet's history, Crenshaw's father asked his son to join Starfleet Academy. "Make those alien lovers see their origins in you, and remove these scummy aliens from our Fleet," he said. Starfleet Service Crenshaw, then 17, arrived in San Francisco on September 16, 2353, to apply for Starfleet Academy. His parents' names had remained anonymous to the public (until after the elder Crenshaw died in 2361), though at least one Betazoid classmate complained that the contempt for aliens in his mind was projected for any telepath/empath to feel. Still, Crenshaw excelled in his studies, particularly in the interpretation of law, and he graduated in 2355 as an ensign assigned to the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Steadily rising through Starfleet's ranks, his greatest triumph was against four members of the cabinet of Jaresh-Inyo of Grazer, the recently elected President of the Federation. If the investigations had gone on further, some people believed that Crenshaw may have toppled Jaresh-Inyo himself; however, with the Dominion War about to begin, the warrior's spirit in him began to flare up, and he asked for a combat assignment. Dominion War Service Until then, Commander Crenshaw had never served on a starship in his entire career, but he had learned the basics of starship operation in the Academy, and was known as a "lethally quick study". He was assigned as first officer of the U.S.S. Mount Saint Helens, a Steamrunner class vessel under the command of Captain Edward Sansky. The Mount Saint Helens had an ironic distinction for having absolutely no aliens whatsoever on the ship; Captain Sansky was as much a xenophobe as Crenshaw was. The two men realized that they had similar backgrounds and were united in a common cause, and they became close friends. For two years, Crenshaw worked hard to gain the respect of his captain and crew, earning their trust in the heat of battle. When Sansky was killed by a falling bulkhead during the battle to reclaim Deep Space Nine, Crenshaw found himself in a difficult situation: he was now the captain of the Mount Saint Helens, as next in the chain of command, but the ship was being torn apart around him. In a display of tactical genius, Crenshaw managed to fight off the Dominion warships harassing his vessel and managed to keep it intact for the final assault on the station. Remarkably, despite the incredible damage and the loss of her captain, the Mount Saint Helens suffered very few fatalities, though some of the injuries were serious enough to warrant several medical retirements. Crenshaw himself was so badly injured, both hips almost totally shattered, that he was not expected to survive. Through the medical genius of DS9's Dr. Julian Bashir and his own iron will, he managed to recover from his near crippling injuries, though he still walks with a limp in his left leg to this day. After Deep Space Nine was reclaimed by the Federation Alliance, Crenshaw was officially promoted to Captain, and commanded his ship for the remainder of the war. He took part in the final battle for Cardassia in 2375. After the Dominion surrendered, he returned to Earth, where President Jaresh-Inyo appointed him the Solicitor General of the Federation - essentially, the defense attorney for government officials, and the prosecution for high profile cases. Solicitor General Crenshaw's first major case as Solicitor General was the defense of President Victor Manchester, being accused of voter fraud. Rather than suffer the media outcry of a public trial, the President resigned and was replaced by his "last minute Vice-President", Mikhail Britanov. For nearly three months after Manchester's resignation, Crenshaw remained on the sidelines, growing angered by the apparent interference of alien influences, including that of the Adiam Pack. It was during that time that he became an agent of the evil warlord Artimus Devaneaux, and tried to pull the strings in order to make Artimus' dreams come to fruition; however, Artimus was killed by his own son before he was able to take advantage of what discord Crenshaw could sow. In a highly secret meeting, Crenshaw offered his services to the Maquis warlord Charles Leyton, the former Starfleet admiral who had attempted to overthrow Jaresh-Inyo in 2372. Leyton intended to use the Hand of Joshmaul, a Reydovan weapon formerly held by Artimus, to force Earth's surrender, and he promised Crenshaw great power if he could somehow manage to spark the great war between the Adiam Pack and the Federation that would destroy Starfleet's already weakened forces. Crenshaw, power-hungry in the extreme, agreed. In April 2376, Crenshaw became the prosecutor in the case against Dr. Rachel Vantine, a former Starfleet medical officer who had married an Adiam man named Chirann Koresh and had been appointed Ambassador to the Pack by President Britanov four months earlier. Vantine was arrested by order of Britanov's former colleague, President Meriah Broussard-T'or, who had mere moments before accepted Vantine's resignation as ambassador. Chirann was also arrested, but was released when the Pack threatened to take drastic measures to ensure his release. Crenshaw built a case against Vantine on the charges of treason against the Federation, committing acts of espionage, and conspiracy to overthrow the government of the Federation; his opponent, James Kavanagh - serving as Vantine's defense - argued that the Solicitor General's case was baseless. Crenshaw's vehement attacking of Vantine grew so worrisome that several members of Starfleet, including Fleet Admiral James Travis, Admiral Kiran Joshmaul and General Jeremiah Neill, began to suspect that Crenshaw may have ulterior motives for Vantine, several months pregnant with a child she conceived with Chirann; Neill suspected that Crenshaw would attempt to assassinate the doctor if she was on the verge of being acquitted. Unmasked: Caught in the Act Neill was right: Crenshaw indeed intended to kill the doctor, not necessarily for the pleasure of it (though it did cross his mind). The Solicitor General, now under the sway of Demon-Kieran Devaneaux, scion of Artimus, knew that Vantine was carrying a child by Chirann - the first human-Adiam hybrid - and that the Adiam would declare war on the Federation if the child were to die at his hands. He had a microchip explosive implanted in Vantine's abdomen when she was arrested, but he wanted the pleasure of killing Vantine in person, by his own hand. During a power outage at Starfleet Security, Crenshaw - believing himself safe - entered the building to find that the Marines handling security there had vacated the premises and his own men were in charge. Stepping into Vantine's cell, the Solicitor General produced a burning phaser and shot it right through Vantine's head. To Crenshaw's astonishment, Vantine suddenly vanished in holographic static, along with a holofield that had obscured SFMC Major General Jonathan Ross. Ross, sneering, pointed out that Crenshaw had incriminated himself by his actions; Neill, onboard his flagship Shenandoah, was recording the entire proceeding using Starfleet Security's surveillance sensors. The power outage had been engineered by Neill and Ross in order to dangle bait in front of the Solicitor General; Dr. Vantine herself was onboard the Shenandoah. Threatening to detonate the explosive unless he was allowed to go free, Crenshaw thought he had bought himself some time. Ross soon proved him wrong; pulling his knife from his belt, the general flicked his wrist and sent the blade slashing against the backs of Crenshaw's legs. Staggering in an attempt to attack Ross, Crenshaw was rewarded with Ross' hand smashing against the side of his face, knocking the treacherous Solicitor General unconscious. Placing a specially-attuned transport beacon on his shoulder, Ross had him beamed to the brig onboard the Shenandoah. Reporting it to interim President Talus of Vulcan, General Neill requested - due to their highly suspect and baseless nature - that all charges be dropped against Dr. Vantine. He also recommended to the Council that a joint Starfleet/Council tribunal be convened against Crenshaw, as a Starfleet officer in a government office, on the charges of treason, attempted murder, and falsifying evidence against a Federation official. Crenshaw was held under lock and key onboard Neill's flagship until his trial date. Escape, and Kidnapping the Empress However, Artimus - and his successor, the maniacal Demon-Kieran - had other agents within the Federation, and some - unbeknownst to General Neill - onboard the Shenandoah. Crenshaw's old crew from the Mount Saint Helens rallied to his aid and, aided by agents onboard the Shenandoah, managed to disable Neill and his entire crew by flooding the decks with anesthetic gas and carefully placed explosives. Rather than stealing the Shenandoah, however, Crenshaw and his compatriots beamed onboard the St. Helens and took her out of impound. From his old executive officer, Crenshaw learned that Celest Devaneaux, the wife of Emperor Kieran Devaneaux, had a bounty on her head, placed by Demon-Kieran - and that she had to be taken alive. The Demon knew that Celest would be brought back onboard her father's vessel - Chancellor Joshua Underwood's command ship, the Absolution. Moving quickly, acting like a ship in distress while Separatist battlecruisers waited in ambush, Crenshaw baited Underwood's flagship into investigating, then attacking without warning. His attacks, combined with sabotage by Demon-Kieran's insiders in the crew, disabled the Absolution long enough for the Gorak'nar warriors he had brought with him to take the Emperor's wife into their custody. Celest was brought before the Emperor of Defileron, to be his personal slave. Demon-Kieran rewarded Crenshaw for his ingenuity by naming him Executor of the United Legions of Defileron. Invasion: Earth Under Siege On June 24, 2376, Demon-Kieran began the long-awaited invasion of Earth. Crenshaw, as commander of the Defileron military, co-commanded the attack. He is currently directing operations in San Francisco; he had expected the operation to be fairly straightforward, but he had not counted on the tactical genius of his adversary, Jonathan Ross, in operational command of the Starfleet Marine Corps following the incapacitation of his uncle, General Neill. General Ross, charged by Joshmaul with the defense of San Francisco, vowed "to make the scum pay for every inch with their blood", as he was said to have stated it. So far, Ross' tactical genius has kept Crenshaw and his forces bunched up in Starfleet Headquarters' lower levels, not gaining any ground towards capturing it. The Battle of Defileron On August 15, 2376, Ross broke through the lower levels and forced Crenshaw's forces to rout. Returning to the troopships, Crenshaw sent a communique to Demon-Kieran and recommended a retreat to Defileron. Moments later, former Gorak'nar High Inquisitor Jaeden'laek XVI - commanding the forces in Paris - recommended the same. Demon-Kieran brought both men to the Hand of Joshmaul, and with his depleted forces managed to escape Earth. But Ross - in a brilliant example of his strategic genius - had placed a microscopic tracer on Crenshaw before he managed to escape, allowing the Federation to find the planet of Defileron - far to the south of the Reydovan Empire. Crenshaw remained in Demon-Kieran's fortress for three months while the Federation collected its forces for an assault on Defileron. On November 28, 2376, the combined fleet of Federation, Reydovan and Gorak'nar forces, led by Emperor Kieran himself, converged on Defileron from both sides. The siege of Defileron lasted nearly a month, and ended with Demon-Kieran's death and the total surrender of Crenshaw and Jaeden'laek's forces. Death Crenshaw and Jaeden'laek were captured by Reydovan Imperial Marines and taken onboard the Imperial flagship Absolution to return to Reydovan Prime. On December 26, a tribunal consisting of High Inquisitor Velenkayn VI, Imperial Chancellor Joshua Underwood and SFMC Commandant Jeremiah Neill convened in Montagne Noire, examined the evidence against the two men, convicted them, and sentenced them to death. In his final statement, allowed by the tribunal, Crenshaw expressed remorse for the thousands of human lives - not the lives of those of alien races - that he had taken in the battle in Starfleet Headquarters. Because he was a hero of the Dominion War, Crenshaw was allowed to choose the method in which he would be killed. He said that, like any soldier, he wanted a firing squad. And that is precisely what he received, on January 1, 2377. OOC: Sudden Change in Appearance In his portrayal of Crenshaw before, Underwood had used pictures of a younger Redford, due to the fact that he was only 40. However, Underwood began using pictures of Redford as he appears today, in his mid-60s, shortly after he was arrested in the storyline. Underwood explains this as a geriatric disorder that deformed his face, possibly brought on by disease or poison - the latter being the case with the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, in 2004. Underwood has not officially stated the reasons for the change. Crenshaw, Dawson Crenshaw, Dawson